Investment Learning

  • December 19, 2024

Affordability woes in a strong economy: 2025 housing market outlook

With the new year around the corner, Zillow Group (Z) chief economist Skylar Olsen joins Brad Smith on Wealth to talk about her expectations for the housing market in 2025. Olsen says that, looking to 2025, Zillow is "thinking about the affordability challenge, but also thinking about the strength and the economy." She explains, "Put two of those things together, and you've got a lot of buyers in make-it-work mode," meaning buyers are "still trying to take advantage of more affordable" opportunities like buying a home outside of major cities. "We're thinking about the rental market, which will be more important next year because of the continued barriers to the for sale side," the economist says, since there are "generations of people who are going to be renting for longer." As mortgage rates are expected to stay higher for longer, "Zillow does expect probably fewer new listings from existing owners than we did just a couple months ago moving into that next year. That said, we still forecast a steady improvement." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.

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  • December 19, 2024

Existing home sales pop, signaling buyers are in 'make-it-work mode'

Existing home sales jumped in November, rising 4.8% from the month prior and 6.1% year over year, new data from the National Association of Realtors shows. Zillow Group chief economist Skylar Olsen joins Wealth host Brad Smith to break down what the data signals about the housing market ahead of 2025. "Existing home sales more than matched our optimism for November's numbers. We did expect it to come in probably surprisingly high, [but] I think this more than delivered," Olsen says. She notes Zillow has been tracking a "stronger momentum from new listings, from existing homeowners kind of filling up the shelves, adding to that inventory for buyers, and the strength of the economy pushed buyers through in a make-it-work mode, despite rising mortgage rates to deliver such a stunning showing." The economist says that, in the new year, "we're not going to see [a] big relief from a price correction. Any relief that we hope for from affordability will come in the form of lower mortgage rates." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.

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